Improvementin automatic fire-alarm telegraphs



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J. H. GUEST. AUTOMATIC FIRE-ALARM TELEGRAPH. 11 432320, 'Patented Sept. 12, 1876.

N, PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHXNGTON D C,

. 4Sh'eets-Sheet 2. J. H. GUEST.

AUTOMATIC FIRE-ALARM TELEGRAPH. No.18Z,0ZO. Patented Sept. 12, 1876.

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N,FETERS. PHOTO-LITHDGHAPHER. WASMINGTON D C 4Sheets-Sheet 3. 3| H AUTOMATIC FIRE-ALARM TELEGRAPH.

No.18Z,QZ0. Patented Sept. 12, 1876.-

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J. H. GUEST. AUTOMATIOIFIRE-ALARM TELEGRAPH. No-.182,0Z0.

Patented Sept. 12, 1876.

f JOHN H. Gu-Esr, on BROOKLYN, NEW roan.

.. IM'PRoVEMEMfm AuToM ATjc FIRE-ALAR TELEGRAPHS; a

. Specification forming part of Letters Patent No; 182,020, dated September 12, 1876; application filed Q J August 22,1876. J

To all-whom-it may concern:- Y r Beit known that 1, JOHN H. GUEST Of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State ofr New Y'ork, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in'Automatic Fire-Alarm Telegraphs; and l do hereby'declare that the following is afull, clear,'an'd' exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains' to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which forma part of this specification. l

. The ordinary automatic fire-alarm telegraphs as heretofore constructed and used (examples of which may be seen in several of my prior patentslare not well adapted for use in tenement-houses, French-flat houses, or hotels, in that the alarm is arranged to be sounded in one apartment only, the apartmentusually selected being that of the head of the house.

Theobject of this invention is to providea system especially applicable tohotels, tenement and French flat houses by so arranging the circuits and apparatus'that upon the outbreak of a fire an alarm shall be automatically sounded in each room or on each flat or story, as desired and, if desired, the locality be designated upon an annunciator placed in the rooms of the janitor, or in a central office,

or at any other desired spot.

To this end the invention consists in those devicesand combinations of devices, and those arrangements of batteries and circuits, more specifically hereinafter-described and claimed.

-In the drawings, Figure-l is a plan view of myimproved annunciator; Fig. 2, a side view thereof; Fig. 3, a section on line a: w,Fig. 2,

looking toward theleft end of 'Fig. 2. Fig. 4.

isa diagram of the circuits from the thermostats andbattery through the annunciator to the alarms. Fig. 5 is a diagram of circuits connecting a series of alarms and thermostats, the annunciator' being omitted. Fig. 6 isa modification of the arrangement shown in Fig. 5. T Fig. 7 is a diagram showing several buildings, each provided withits own series of alarms and thermostats, but all served from ac'ommon' battery. Figs. 8 and 9 are details showing my'me'thod of and devices for prosigned injury.

in the annunciator, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, Ajisany suitable case orvframing, provided with the usual front, (not here shown,) having an aperture, through which may be seen one of the indications in therotating cylinder B, when? such cylinder has been brought into proper position. B is mounted on and rotates with an axis, M, h'aving'its bearings in plates m m.

On M is also secured adetent, F, held or released, according to the circumstances of the case, by the'detent and armature-lever D of the magnet 0, and an escapement-wheel, L, in which plays an anchor to regulate the speed of rotation of the shaft. Upon the shaft is secured a wire, 01, forming a screw-thread thereon, or a screw-thread may be out there in. Arranged above the shaft M, and sliding in the same plates, is a slide-rod, I, having a button, I, on-the outside of the case for its easy manipulation. From the under side of i this rod depends a pivoted dog, 6, whose lower" end almost touches the shaft M. One side is beveled or rounded, so as to slide over the screw-thread, the other being straight, so as to catch thereon and engage therewith. A'

coiled spring, E, has one end rigidly secured, while the other projects upwardly and engages with the slide-rod. These parts constitutethe motive power of the cylinder B.

If the slide 1 be out at full length, and then be'forced into the case, as shown in Fig. 2, the dog't' will bend upward-and pass overthe screw-thread. At the same time the spring E 1s compressed, and .will operate, if not re-' strained, to throw I back, when the dog, not

being able to slide over the screw,'will bear against it, andcause the shaft M to rotate Upon the slide I is secured a plate, K, composed of a conducting portion, 11, and an in-* sulating portion, b, so arranged that the insulatingportion at one end, upon the move-J ment of the slide I and plate K, shall pass under the contact-springs a a a, 8th., at one end before it does at the other; or, in other words, that it shall be brought under the springs in succession. The arrangement here shown is to arrange the insulating and conducting por-';

tions with an oblique edge. It is evident,

suitable style of thermostats, arranged on ditT- ferent floors of a building, there being alarms A B A B on the same floors, a circuit leads from each thermostat to its appropriate spring thence through the metallic part b of plate K to the magnet G and to the battery. Upon any thermostat closing circuit. the current.

flows through the magnet G, causing it-to attract its armatureand armature lever D,'releasing the shaft M. act andto retract slide I, which, in turn, causes the rotation of shaft M and cylinder B. As soon, however, as slide I has been retracted the thermostat closing the circuit, the circuit is broken, the armature falls away from the magnet, and the armature-lever stops the re tationofthe shaft and cylinder. The designations on the cylinder are so arranged, relatively, that the designating the location of the thermostat originally closing the circuit is'then opposite the opening in the case, so as to indicate such locality. This would give an indication, however, only at the place where theannunciator was located, In order, then, to sound an alarm at other places, I arrange upon an insulating-block two springs, N 0,

Figs. 1,3, 4, normally separated from each other, and in a circuit leading from the battery to the alarms AB A B. Thesesprings are so arranged that 1119 1 the retraction of slide I the plate K shall press upon N, and cause it to close circuit with O to the alarms through 4 N 0.5 5.

. The alarm-circuit may, if desired, be continued totheoffice of a fire-patrol or a policestation. By these means a fire occurring in any reom of a tenement or flat-house? isfirst automatically signaled at the anjnunciator and then thealarm is automatically given in all desired apartments.

. As the apparatus may only be partially run down upon the occurrence of a fire, I provide abranchcircuit through the magnet controlled by the switch S, so that, after the several alarms have been given, the switch may be turned to throw the circuit through the magnet, and allow the shaft and cylinder to fully completea revolution before beingagain wound up. The same object may be accomplished by a rod, G, projecting through the fron-tof the case, and impinging at one end against the .ar-

Fig. .3. 1n tenements and other kinds of houses having no central ot'fice it may be desired to dispense with .the annu nciator, and have the occurrence of a fire anywhere in the building signaled in all the rooms or upon all thefioors. I illustrate a method of doing this in Fig. 5,

This allows spring E to K room;

Where the e mostat T T T and ala m A B AB A B are ondifi'erent fioors .T and A B on the first, T and A 'B" on the second, and T and A B on the third.

- Itis evident that there may be more or less floors, or while they are here called floors they may be rooms. A Wire, 8, leads from the battery to the upper thermostat T, and thence by wire 10 to the lower alarm A, B, then through all the alarms and back to the battery by 9., From 8 branch wires are led through T T to wire 10. From this it will readily be seen that if the circuit be closed through any branch, it will be closed through all the magnets,and cause an alarm at each. All the alarms A B, A B, &c., illustrated here, may be ordinary magnetic bells, or they may be alarms operated by clock-work, controlled by-magnets. s ufficiently far to bring b under the spring of I In Fig. 6 I showas a. mod fication a vibrating magnetic bell, A B, used in the circuit.

his o d cause contin ons al rm, the arr re t thro g l e ng controlled aft r theeir- Q t had e n ose at a y henmos a y the spring 0 and lever e.

In g- 7 I ust te a method o guardin s l ou es, on a tery being used .0r, 1-= H, n H p sent three. houses sepa. rated by Walls W W. In each ather-mostat. and alarm are placed on each floor, .or in-each At some on n ent poi t-a. batterm: "M B, is located as seen; Wires 3 6 connect such, battery with the system in thefirst house, wires 1 4 with the system, in second house, and

wires 12 ,5 with the system inthind house.

In each h use the sys m i asshown in Fi or it may e s sho F;ig--fi,so hat the 'oc u ence f fi e n a y Mom, or on any floo of a house, will be signaled to all the BOQIIIS or floors of that house, but not to the others.

If desired,h0rvever, switches may be intro.-

duced, so as to signal to all the houses in a block poneoccurrence fa e l y 01.16.!

hen h rm stat are used in tenemfi Quse ther may e da geref injurmaml de tal or intended, frcm children or others putting matches under them .oristriking them. o i t th a guard, i, wit slots 0'. as in Fig. is place O e themes shown in Fig.8. Over this may be placed ;a.. e.ap,, .11, Fig- 8.,.h.av.-

' ng' a olid bottom, but pen .or p r ed sides. The bottom is considerably larger than thespace occupied by the thermostat, whicherrangement efiec ual y :pnev utsi amp -i s ith the thermosta s- Having thus described myinvention, what I c aim, ,anddesire. to. ecure by Letters eI, 1,t, is-.-.- matureever b e i s t lcrum, asshown i tially as set forth. 1

2. The combinat on, with abattery aseries: of thermostats,an electrical circuit, and one or more ordinary magnetic alarms, of a self closing and breaking or vibrating magnetic bell, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with several main circuits and several series of alarm-bells,thermostats, and branch circuits, of a single main battery and connections, as shown, the said main battery supplying the current for all the several main circuits, substantially as set forth.

4. The shield U, having solid face or l-130ttom and perforated or open sides, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination of the cylinder B, shaft M, screw-thread d, slide I, with dog '21 and spring E, substantially as set forth.

" 6 The combination with cylinder B, of shaft M, with screw-thread d, slide I, with dog 6,

spring E, escapement L, and electromagnetic stop D C, substantially as set forth.

der B and its motor-train, the electromagnetic 1 stop, and the switch for causing the stop to allow the motor to complete a full revolution of the cylinder after a partial revolution thereof, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

J. H. GUEST.

Witnesses F. EDDOWES, E. L. (3001:. 

